


Secret Admirer

by AProblematicWriter



Category: Minecraft: Story Mode - Fandom
Genre: F/F, F/M, High School AU, Secret Admirer, cliches, clichés everywhere
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-10-28 19:01:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17792960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AProblematicWriter/pseuds/AProblematicWriter
Summary: Monday was supposed to be mundane. Nothing interesting was supposed to happen. Or at least every other Monday had been the same old boring thing. Jesse wasn’t adventurous when it came to what she did with her time and video games were high on that list. So, the most interesting news she had to speak about on a Monday was her four-in-a-row victory on Fortnite. Jesse always expected the mundane. She had to. She was supposed to.And then she got the note in her locker.





	Secret Admirer

**Author's Note:**

> Bleh. I blame the MCSM discord for this. Happy Valentines!!
> 
> PS. This isn't edited. I'll go back through it soon and change all the errors. (Maybe add Axel in SOMEWHERE)
> 
> Edit: Axel has been mentioned.

Monday was supposed to be mundane. Nothing interesting was supposed to happen. Or at least every other Monday had been the same old boring thing. Jesse wasn’t adventurous when it came to what she did with her time and video games were high on that list. So, the most interesting news she had to speak about on a Monday was her four-in-a-row victory on Fortnite. Jesse always expected the mundane. She had to. _She was supposed to_.

And then she got out of her early geometry class _which was always the absolute worst_. And headed to her locker to trade her geometry book out for her English. And sitting on top of everything in her locker was a loose piece of paper. She’d almost ignored it until she saw the distinct ‘READ ME’ on the front.

Plucking it up she hadn’t thought much. Expected the normal ‘LOSER’ to be printed inside. Then she opened it. The handwriting was clean. And not recognizable. The content of the note was more surprising.

 

_She is the sun_

_Bright and beautiful_

_And I the moon_

_Forever craving her light_

_~ Your Secret Admirer_

 

Jesse’s face burned as she looked up from the note and side-to-side. Teens continued down the hall rushing to their lockers to grab books or to get to their next class. Jesse read over the note again. _Poetry_? Was this meant for someone else. It had to have been. It just had to.

She folded the paper back up and pushed it into the back pocket of her jeans. She needed to get to class. She grabbed her English book, shut her locker up, and walked briskly to room 103.

Hoping no one would mention how red her face was.

 

* * *

 

“You found it in _your_ locker?”

“Yes!”

Olivia pressed her lips into a thin line as she read over the crumpled paper in her hand once more. “Then it’s yours.”

“it can’t be—who would…” Jesse trailed off looking out the window of her bedroom.

“That’s why it says secret admirer, _Jesse_.” Olivia tossed the note into her lap. “You’re not supposed to know. And everyone knows which locker is yours. It’s been the same since you started high school.”

“’Liv…” Jesse huffed and read the note over again.

“it’s yours, Jess.” Olivia said. “Now let me look at your laptop so I can see what’s wrong with it. Axel’ll be mad if we’re late to game night.”

Jesse sighed and handed the laptop on her night stand over to Olivia.

“If you think so.”

 

* * *

 

Jesse was convinced during the rest of the week that the note was not meant for her. The rest of the school, however, wasn’t. They ate up the rumor that sweet, dorky Jesse had a secret admirer and more speculation came out of it then Jesse was comfortable with.

It all ended up leading back to Lukas.

Lukas, who she was friends with despite their difference in social cliques. Lukas, who she had had a crush on for a while, but that was quickly fading. Lukas who also knew about the note but chose not to say anything. Jesse was pretty sure he heard the rumors that it had been him too.

They sat together in Chemistry. They always did. They were lab partners after all. Jesse being quite fed up with not knowing asked him when the teacher put them up to their lab assignment.

“Are you the one that left the note in my locker?”

Lukas stopped working and looked up at her before smiling. “No, actually, someone else beat me to the punch.”

Jesse scoffed and elbowed him.

Lukas laughed and pushed her arm away. “Seriously though, it wasn’t me.”

Jesse scrutinized him a moment before nodding returning her attention to their assignment. “Ok, I believe you. Do you have any guesses as to who it could be?”

“You being you?” Lukas said. “Anyone.”

Jesse nudged him again. “Quit!”

Lukas laughed again and shrugged. “I don’t know. Anyway, I thought you didn’t think it was yours?”

So he had heard the rumors then. Jesse opened her mouth to counter him but had nothing. Lukas started to laugh again. Jesse flushed.

“Let’s just do the assignment.”

 

* * *

 

The assignment for Chemistry was way harder than Jesse had expected. Lukas ended up doing most of the work and just told her how the experiment was supposed to work. Jesse and Lukas parted ways with quite a few whispers from their other classmates. Jesse thought that would have been the worst part of her day.

And then she saw Aiden.

Aiden was a jerk. He had been for as long as Jesse could remember. In recent years, he had started picking on her more and more. And never passed up a chance to fire an insult or snide comment her way.

He didn’t disappoint today either.

“That secret admirer of yours has some really bad tastes.”

Jesse snarled at him. “I bet their tastes are better than yours.”

Aiden snorted and began to walk past her. “Anything would be of better taste than you.”

Jesse glared at Aiden’s retreating back. She could go the rest of her life without ever having to talk to him again and it wouldn’t be long enough. She stomped back to her locker. She was once again greeted with a note that said ‘Read Me’

Jesse almost just left it there. But she was far too curious not to open it. It was the same handwriting as the first one.

 

_You look good in that cardigan, Jesse._

~ _Your Secret Admirer_

 

Jesse absentmindedly brought her hand to the yellow sweater and froze. _Her name was on the note this time._ The note had been meant for her. A smile curled the ends of her lips. And she pulled the note against her chest away from the prying eyes of the other students.

One mystery had been solved; the note hadn’t been something she’d got by accident. Now she just needed to find out who the notes were coming from.

 

* * *

 

Jesse got a note every Monday and Friday for the next four weeks. Sometimes it was poetry. Sometimes it was just a nice little note. The whispers were getting louder, the gossip more outlandish. A lot of people were beginning to think it was a joke. A lot of others thought Jesse’s admirer would ask her to prom.

Jesse just floated above it all. She had maybe been living too far above the clouds this past month, but someone liked her. Someone really liked her. And she felt wanted. Olivia kept trying to ground her. Afraid that the gossip about the entire thing being a practical joke was true.

“I don’t want you to get hurt, Jesse.”

Jesse wasn’t usually one to brush off Olivia’s warnings, but she did this time. The notes felt genuine. And Jesse believed the writers every word, hung off them like a love-sick puppy. She kept all the notes in a draw in her desk. Came home every night and reread them. She practically floated to History. Was oblivious to the stares as she sat down at the desk. Even Aiden’s pointed stare was ignored as she sat, her elbow pressing into the table as she looked up at Ms. Shon.

“Okay. Class. We’re going to continue our exploration of the American Revolution with a project.” There was a slight whine from the back of the room. “it will be a partnered project,” there was an influx of excited chatter. Ms. Shon quickly shut it down. “And I will be picking the partners.”

That brought Jesse out of her stupor. She didn’t know many of the kids in this class, excluding Aiden and Gill. They were all likely to tease her about her secret admirer. She grimaced.

“Aiden,” the boy straightened up and look at Ms. Shon attentively. “You’ll be with…” Ms. Shon’s eyes moved around the room before settling on Jesse. Jesse sunk in her seat, begging silently for her to choose someone else. “Jesse.”

Jesse cursed under her breath and looked over at Aiden. He was already looking at her wide eyed. His eyes darted away immediately after their gazes met and he crossed his arms sinking down in his seat. Jesse mirrored him.

Ms. Shon got the rest of the partners together. And then went on to the instructions.

“This project will be graded on your individual participation, but also as a whole. I expect you all to work with your partner. And explore how the American Revolution began. You will be giving an oral presentation of your assignment together. This is due by next Thursday. That’s ten days. Now partner up and start brainstorming ideas.”

Jesse looked over at Aiden and he was already looking at her. His shoulders slumped and he pushed up from his seat, walking over to her desk.

Jesse grimaced again. _This was going to be awful_.

 

* * *

 

“You got paired with Aiden?”

“Yeah, it sucks.”

“Maybe for you. I wish they’d pair me with him.”

“Stella…”

Jesse scrunched her nose and Stella just shrugged. “What? He’s my best friend.”

“Yeah, Stella, we all know.” Jesse giggled as Stella shook the bottle of nail polish and made Jesse splay her hand in front of her. It was their monthly ritual. Stella painted her nails and they talked. This month it was green nail polish. And, unfortunately, the topic was Aiden and the History project.

“So, what’re you doing for the project?”

“We got a few ideas,” Jesse grimaced. They’d argued over what the main theme of their oral presentation was going to be for a good twenty minutes before Ms. Shon lectured them on ‘hearing the other person’s reasoning’. “gonna go over it more tomorrow at my place after school.”

“Ooooh,” Stella waggled her eyebrows and Jesse sighed heavily through her nose. “you’re having a boy over.”

“Shut up, Stella!” Jesse said, clipping the girl the shoulder with the hand not currently being manicured. “Aiden isn’t my type at all.”

Stella gave her a toothy grin. “Your secret admirer is though?”

Jesse flushed and her gaze sunk to Stella’s dining table as the blonde started on her left hand. “Maybe.”

“I can’t believe you have a secret admirer.” Stella laughed. “It’s like we’re in some cheesy romantic comedy.” Stella shook her head as she painted Jesse’s index finger nail. “Speaking of, I rented The Princess Bride.”

“Nice,” Jesse grinned at her best friend. And they lapsed into silence a moment. Jesse’s eye catching the photo of Stella and Petra—Jesse’s other best friend—on the wall to the right of the dining table. It was an old photo. Taken after Petra and Stella had met at practice. “You and Petra patch things up yet?”

Stella’s smile fell, her jaw setting. “No.”

“She’ll come around,” Jesse wet her lips and tried to smile for Stella. The fight had been almost two weeks ago. And Jesse was, unfortunately, stuck in the middle. She hoped they didn’t start using her as leverage in their dumb argument. “I’m sure.”

Stella’s eyes grew pained as she stalled in her painting, looking up at Jesse a little lost. “I… wish she’d just understand I never meant what I said to hurt her.”

Jesse frowned but then smiled. She sat her free hand On Stella’s that was splayed on the table. “Well, then actually talk to her. Maybe tell her about that mondo crush you got on ‘er, yeah?”

Stella’s face turned red and Jesse laughed. “I regret ever telling you that.”

“Oh, c’mon, Stell!!” Stella narrowed her eyes. “Ask her to prom!”

“Jesse…”

Jesse giggled and moved her hand from Stella’s as the blonde began to paint her left hand again. “Why not?”

“’Cause what I said really hurt her.” Stella said without looking up. Her eyes quickly grew pained. “And I don’t think it would be a great idea.”

“Then apologize!” Jesse huffed. These two were impossible. Stella finished painting the last nail on Jesse’s hand and sat back in her chair, lips pressed into a hard line.

“She doesn’t want to speak to me, Jess.”

Jesse rolled her eyes leaning into the back of the dining chair she sat in. “You’re ridiculous. She’s always telling me about how much she misses you.”

Stella blinked, seeming to perk up a small bit. Jesse fought the giggle bubbling in her chest. “Really?”

“Yeah, Stella.” Jesse said, waving her right hand to help the polish dry. “I’m like her go to for things like that. She really misses you and you guys are getting annoying.” Jesse looked Stella right in the eye. “Just apologize!”

Stella pursed her lips and then nodded. “Okay, I’ll try to talk to her at lunch tomorrow.”

Jesse slumped her shoulder and sighed, relieved. “Thank you.”

Stella rolled her eyes and began to collect all her manicure stuff back into her leather case. “Speaking of prom, are you going to ask Lukas?”

Jesse laughed and shook her head. “No.”

“Why not?” Stella tilted her head and Jesse gave her an annoyed look.

“Because one, he was going to ask Olivia.” Jesse adjusted herself in the chair. “And two, maybe I’m waiting for someone else to ask me.”

“Oh…” Stella gave her a mischievous grin. “You think your admirer is gonna ask you?”  
Jesse smiled bashfully and nodded. “I was kinda hoping that, maybe, they would.”

“You’re such a hopeless romantic,” Stella said laughing, whacking Jesse on the arm with her manicure case as she got up from her chair. “Go start the popcorn, I’ll put this up and get the movie going, alright?”

Jesse pushed herself up from her own chair, beaming. “Okay!”

 

* * *

 

Jesse was lounging across the sofa in her living room, tapping away at her phone. Messaging Olivia and Axel about their next _Minecraft_ session. School had been rough and she was just happy to be home and able to talk about something mundane like a meet up. _The worst was yet to come, though._

Aiden was coming over to do research for their project. She could just see how this was going to play out. They were just going to argue and argue and get nothing done. Jesse huffed a sigh. _She really needed this passing grad_ e. Maybe she’d tell him that. Set down the rules so he knew what she expected. _Yeah, that’s exactly what she’d do._

There was a knock on her front door and Jesse bolted upright; eyeing the clock on her phone. **4:45** , _he was early_. She pushed herself off the couch and slipped her phone into her back pocket. Taking a couple deep breaths, Jesse walked over to the front door and opened it. As expected, Aiden was on the other side, albeit soaked.

A roll of thunder cracked through the sky as Aiden pushed back his sopping brown hair. His brow was pulled together, jaw set in frustration. “Nice weather we’re having.”

Jesse chuckled and put her hands on her hips. “You don’t have an umbrella?”

Aiden gave her a dirty look before sighing. “I left it on the bus last week. Still have yet to find it.” He shifted his weight onto his left leg. “can I come in? It’s god damn freezing out here!”

“I dunno,” Jesse said, her lips quirking into a mischievous smirk. “I’m not supposed to let in stray dogs.”

Aiden’s eyes narrowed and he sneered. “ _Har har_. Fine, I’ll just hitch a ride back then.”

Aiden made no move to do as he said and Jesse stepped out of the way. Confident she had won this first battle, until Aiden brushed past her and shook himself like a dog. Water splattered across Jesse’s face and she scoffed. Glowering at him as she used the sleeve of her flannel to wipe the water away.

Aiden grinned and then dryly said; “That’s for calling me a dog.”

“You’re so immature!” And as if to prove her point Aiden stuck his tongue out at her. Jesse inhaled sharply through her nose, glaring, and tried to push down the urge to slap Aiden.

Aiden, of course, only knew how to press her buttons rather than leave her be.

“We gonna start the research or are you gonna keep staring?”

“At you?” Jesse feigned a gag. “Never.”

Jesse thought she saw something like hurt flash through Aiden’s eyes. It was gone as soon as she thought she had seen it. Aiden sneering. “But you definitely would if it was Lukas, right?”

Jesse’s face burned and she looked away. “I’m gonna go get my stuff,” She headed for the staircase before spinning around and pointing an accusatory finger his way. “ _Don’t break anything_.”

Aiden rose his hands in faux surrender, lips quirked in a smug smirk. “You got it.”

Jesse rushed up the stairs, hoping being out of Aiden’s presence a couple moments would help her gather herself. _How could she ever hope to work with him?_ She entered her room, grabbed her notebook and History textbook from atop her bed, and quickly swept back down the stairs.

She found Aiden with his usual Ocelot varsity jacket off and bundled in his lap. He was tapping away at his phone; probably hadn’t even noticed she’d came back down the stairs. Jesse needed to set this right; make sure he understood that she wasn’t going to tolerate him being a jerk.

“Look,” She said as she crossed. Aiden barely looked up from his phone. “I want to get this project done,” Annoyance radiated off Aiden as he sighed through his nose. Jesse sighed, trying to gain back her nerve. “so, if we could just… try and get along until this is over that would be great.”

Aiden finally looked up, his expression was unreadable—it always was. He sighed again and pressed the power button on his phone setting it next to him. “ _Fine_. I need a good grade on this anyway.”

Jesse blinked at him, stunned. “Really?” she shook her head as Aiden quirked a brow and she sat cross-legged in front of him. “I mean, good. I’m glad we’re on the same page.”

Aiden smiled at her bemusedly. “Me too,” His smile fell the next moment and he sighed again. “Speaking of same page, I, uh, I think we should use your idea for the project. It’ll be a hell of a lot less work and investigating the tax acts in-depth _could_ put us ahead of the other classmates.”

Jesse was once again left blinking incredulously at the boy. Since when did he make compromises? “You really think so?”

Aiden nodded and Jesse bit her lip. She felt like she was being played. Like he was only being nice now to rub it in her face later. “Why?”

Aiden shrugged and wouldn’t meet her eyes. “I just… thought about your idea and started to really like it?”

Jesse didn’t know if she could believe him, but he did sound genuine. “Oh, well,” Jesse paused. Something about Aiden felt off. He was slumping his shoulders eyes skirting the family photos on her wall. He always presented himself proudly, always held eye contact to an uncomfortable degree. It was like he was trying to make himself seem smaller. His eyes cut over to her and Jesse realized she’d been staring. And her face burned.

“Okay! Let’s, uh, let’s get started!”

 

* * *

 

The project was coming together surprisingly well. Aiden had been helpful and considerate too. Jesse had expected him to give her the bare minimum on help and finding resources, but he was quite involved. [Whether that was because he really wanted to help or just thought Jesse would do it wrong was none of Jesse’s concern as long as he helped.] They started small chit-chat in the lull between as they wrote down their findings. Aiden asking her about her favorite color, her favorite food, favorite music genre and letting her know his in return. [Of course, he’d like green, anything spicy, and punk rock.] Soon their research turned into Aiden asking her about the photos on her wall and her telling the individual stories attached to them.

She was just finishing recounting the story of the one that had been taken on her 15th birthday, [Her younger self had her face covered in frosting. The culprit having been Petra, who shoved her face into the cake.] when her mother came through the door. The dark-haired woman blinked down at her and Aiden. And Jesse became painfully aware that she had sat closer to the boy as she told him the stories. [she also couldn’t help but cringe at the mess they had made, notebooks, textbooks, her laptop, and paper strewn all over the floor.]

  
“You didn’t tell me you were having a friend over,” Her mother eyed Aiden. Sized him up really. Jesse could feel the next line coming before her mother even spoke it. “ _especially a boy._ ”

“We’re just doing research, mom,” Jesse said, her face burning. “and _I did_ tell you he was coming over.”

Her mother’s brow furrowed a long moment before realization lit in her eyes. “ _Oh, yeah,_ ” her mother smiled and shook her head. “I totally forgot you mentioned he was coming over.”

Aiden stood suddenly, surprising Jesse, and extended his hand to her mother. “My name’s Aiden.”

Her mother took his hand, gently, shaking it. “Hi, Aiden.”

Jesse stood as Aiden released her mother’s hand and took a step back rubbing the back of his neck. Jesse studied Aiden a long moment. He didn’t seem the well-mannered type. She then looked back over at her mother who was still scrutinizing Aiden. She seemed to come to a pleasant conclusion as she smiled.

“Do you wanna stay for dinner?”

Jesse gawked at her mother in horror. “ _Mom,_ ”

Aiden snorted at Jesse before shaking his head, attention returning to her mother. “Thank you, but no. I should probably get home. My mom is gonna start hounding me if I don’t.”

“Okay, if you’re sure,” Jesse’s mother said and then she frowned as a crack of thunder shook the house. “You’re not gonna walk, are you? That rain is coming down hard.”

“I’ll call a friend.” Aiden answered.

Jesse’s mother nodded and Aiden moved to grab his jacket; pulling it on as he dialed a number into his phone, scooping up his backpack. Jesse watched him walk to the mud room speaking to the person on the other end. _It was probably Lukas._

“He’s well-mannered,” Her mother remarked crossing her arms. Jesse nodded and smiled. He was also far kinder than Jesse had expected. “ _and very cute._ ”

Jesse choked on her next breath, spluttering as she shoved her mother’s arm. “Mom~!”

“What?” her mother said, feigning innocence. “Oh, don’t say you don’t think so.”

“I don’t, mom.” Jesse huffed crossing her arms. Aiden was arrogant, snarky, had to be better than everyone. He wasn’t cute. Although, he hadn’t been any of those things tonight. Jesse had enjoyed his company.

“Okay, sweetie,” Her mother said, interrupting Jesse’s thoughts. “I’m gonna start dinner. You get that mess of yours cleaned up.”

“Yeah, mom.”

Her mother turned and headed to the kitchen. Jesse sighed and shook her head at her; gathering up her textbook and laptop. Aiden came out from the mud room looking slightly annoyed.

“What’s up?” Jesse asked, straightening.

Aiden waved her off. “Nothing. Lukas is gonna be twenty minutes.”

“Oh.” Jesse bit her lip and shifted the pile of things in her arms. _Could she even carry this all by herself?_

Aiden took a tentative step forward, expression softening. “Need any help?”

“Um,” Jesse blinked at him. “y-you could grab my notebooks.”

He nodded and scooped up the rest of her notebooks and pencils. He followed her upstairs to her room, afterward, and set his arm full of her stuff on her desk. Jesse putting her pile on her bed before turning back to him and finding he was already looking down at her.

 _Why wasn’t he on the basketball team if he was this tall?_ She’d never really noted his height before, but this close to him, it was hard not to. It was also hard not to note the piercings in his ears or the undercut of his hair. Or the beauty mark by his left eye. Or how pretty his green eyes really were.

Jesse’s eyes widened and she looked away from the boy in front of her, face burning.

Aiden laughed. And, for a moment, Jesse thought it was at her and glared. Only to find Aiden smiling nervously, hand rubbing the back of his neck. “I, uh, really liked working on the project with you.”

Jesse blinked at him; her heart fluttering. “Really?”

Aiden didn’t catch her gaze, but nodded. “Yeah, I really did.”

Jesse laughed nervously, trying to decipher this new feeling blooming in her chest. “Me too.”

An awkward silence filled the space between them. And Aiden scuffed the floor with his boot. “So, um, do you want me to come back here or do you want--?”

“How ‘bout I go to your place?” Jesse really didn’t want to have to deal with her mother’s prodding. “Lukas can drop me off and take me home.”

Aiden nodded and continued to kick at the floor. He seemed to be preparing himself to say something before his phone buzzed in his pocket. He fished it out quickly and huffed.

“He’s early,” He pushed his phone back into his pocket and rubbed the back of his neck.

“Um, I’ll see you tomorrow, I guess?”

“Yeah.”

Aiden nodded and walked past her. Jesse pivoted on her heel to watch him leave. He looked over his shoulder at her and grinned. That stupid toothy grin of his he always shot at her, but it was different, warmer. And Jesse became painfully aware of something then.

Her mom was right; _he was cute._

 

* * *

 

Stella’s car always smelt like vanilla and cinnamon. It was comforting mix. One that helped Jesse get over the morning blues. Stella’s choice of music usually helped boost Jesse’s spirits as well, but today it did so more than others. The woman playing the mixtape Petra had made for her. [She hadn’t touched it since the fight, so Jesse knew this only meant good things for the feud between her two best friends.]

“I assume this means the talk went well with Petra?”

Stella laughed and nodded. “Yeah, it did.” The blonde smiled fondly to herself. And Jesse eyed her mischievously. Stella picked up on her change in demeanor, eyes narrowing. “And before you ask, yes. We’re going to prom together.”

Jesse threw her arms up in the air. “YES!”

Stella shook her head as she rolled her eyes. “How’d things with Aiden go?”

Jesse stiffened. She’d hoped Stella wouldn’t ask.

“Um, they went pretty okay!” She forced a smile hoping the girl wouldn’t notice that something was amiss. Like Jesse realizing she actually kind of liked Aiden.

“Yeah?” Stella cut her eyes over at her. Jesse flinched at the suspicion dripping in her voice and squeaked out.

“Yeah.”

Stella nodded as she pulled up to a stop light. “You know,” she started turning her attention fully to Jesse. Jesse willed the red light to change over. “He doesn’t have a date to prom.”

Jesse choked, eyes darting from the traffic light, wide and mortified. Had she caught on? “Stella!”

Stella was holding back giggles. Jesse could tell. Oh, how she hated her. “What?”

“Why are you so keen on getting me a date to prom?” Jesse almost shrieked. She could feel her face burning.

Stella shrugged, pulling away from the traffic light, eyes cutting Jesse’s way, amused. “I have my reasons.”

Jesse rolled her eyes and sighed, leaning into the window. She watched the other cars pass them, thinking of prom and her secret admirer and Aiden.

 

* * *

 

Jesse walked up the steps of Aiden’s house and rang the bell. She pulled her puffer coat closer to herself and waited for an answer. It had gotten colder throughout the day. The wind a bitter gust now. The rain that fell stinging when it hit your bare skin. The door opened and Jesse was greeted with the friendly smile of a brunette woman.

“Hi!” she said, pulling off her thick yellow cleaning gloves. “You must be Jesse.”

“Yeah, that’s me!”

“I’m Ellegaard.”

Jesse took the woman’s hand and shook it, smiling wide. “Pleased to meet you.”

Ellegaard smiled back. “Go on upstairs.” She gestured her head to the stairwell behind her. “You’ll know which room is his.”

Jesse nodded and moved past the woman shifting her backpack up on her shoulders as she took the stairs up. Ellegaard had been right; Aiden’s room was hard to miss. (Whether that was because of the loud music that blasted from inside or the fact the he had signs and what not taped to his door was a mystery) Jesse knocked hard on the door. And in the next beat the door was open. Aiden standing there in a tank top and the school-issued Ocelot branded sweatpants.

“Hey!” he said, beaming. It was one of his bright smiles. The kind that blinded. Jesse was far too focused on the tattoo that extended up his arm to really appreciate it.

Jesse blinked and smiled back. “Hi!”

“Come in.” he stepped to the side and Jesse walked in. His room was nothing short of what Jesse expected. Grunge and punk rock band posters covered the beige walls. There was a window on the wall parallel to the door where his desk was. It was covered in paper. His bed, to the right of the desk, was surprisingly made. And the floor clean. Jesse wondered if his mother made him do it.

Jesse pushed the door closed behind her and Aiden moved to turn down his radio. Jesse’s eyes trailed the tattoo sleeve again.

“So?” he said as he turned to her grinning. “wanna get started?”

“Yeah!” Jesse hoped he hadn’t noticed her lingering eyes. “Let’s get to it.”

Aiden had cleaned off his desk and let Jesse sit there while he sat cross-legged on his bed. He had his laptop next to him opened to some history museum website that had quite the stockpile of information on the Revolution. They talked over their ideas and things they’d include in the presentation. They both had separate outlines of how they wanted to represent things. Jesse supposed they’d just make compromises and merge their outlines together.

In-between the moments they spoke and wrote. Jesse would chance a glance at his tattoo. It was a tribal design, curled with vines and flowers.

“You have quite the staring problem, don’t you?”

Jesse blinked at him and then looked away. She had hoped he hadn’t noticed her staring. She couldn’t help it. She was curious about the tattoo.

“Sorry, the tattoo was a surprise.”

Aiden smiled that stupidly cute half smirk of his. “My dad did it for me.”

“And your parents had no problem with it?”

“Oh no, my mom kicked up a fuss, but I’m eighteen and my dad saw no reason not to.” Aiden smiled as he ran his thumb along the design. “Petra was the one who did the coloring.”

“Wow,” Jesse breathed. “Really?”

“Mhm.” Aiden nodded. “she’s pretty good at it, too.“

“I’ll say.” Jesse replied. “It looks great!”

Aiden seemed to be about to reply when his name was called from downstairs. He frowned and pushed himself off his bed. “Let me go see what she wants.”

“Okay! I’m gonna compare our outlines side to side.”

“You do that,” Aiden said as he opened the door. He grinned over his shoulder. “but we’re using mine!”

Jesse laughed. “As if!!”

Aiden laughed as he exited the room leaving the door ajar. Jesse grabbed his outline and began to compare them together. They were fairly similar. She just needed to convince him to adjust where a couple topics would be and—

Jesse froze.

That handwriting looked so familiar. Where had--?

Her heartbeat hammered in her chest as she grabbed the most recent note she’d gotten from her admirer and compared the writing.

It was the same.

She could hear Aiden’s voice outside the door as he replied to something his mother said. He reentered the room and shut the door behind him.

“Sorry about that, Bites somehow managed to—” he trailed off as Jesse turned to him. The outline and the note in her hands. He blanched.

“You’re my secret admirer?”

Aiden shut his eyes and brought his hand to his face, fingers pinching the bridge of his nose.

Jesse looked between the two items in hand once more and nodded to herself. It was him. It explained a lot. His nervousness. Why she had caught him by her locker occasionally.

“Was it a joke?” Jesse could feel her throat tightening. “Were you just waiting for me to finally get the punchline?”

Jesse was angry for all of three seconds before she finally got a good look at Aiden and realized he wasn’t laughing. He wasn’t smug. He looked embarrassed.

“No.”

Jesse pushed herself up from the swivel chair and took a couple steps forward. “So, what? Did you mean this stuff? Do you really--?”

“I’ve…” he trailed off and looked away. His face was red up to his ears. “I’ve liked you for a while.”

“I don’t understand.” Jesse’s voice was small.

“I know…” Aiden huffed, frustrated. “I was an ass about the whole thing. I… didn’t know how else to get you to talk to me though.”

Jesse laughed incredulously. “You coulda just… asked me out.”

“Could I have?” he looked defeated and Jesse took another few step forwards. They were inches away. She could really see the red tint of his ears now.

“well, maybe not, but…” he laughed, and she did too. “you could now.”

Aiden didn’t reply staring at the floor. Jesse sighed. “Do you wanna go to prom with me?”

For a brief moment, Jesse was certain Aiden was going to deny her offer. But then he smiled and brought his hand to the back of his neck, nodding.

“Yeah. Yeah, I-I’d like that.”

**Author's Note:**

> AXEL.


End file.
